OCCIDENTALE  Rose ex Walther, 1933

Type : J. González Ortega 3019, Sinaloa, Mexico, 1920.

Distribution : Known only from the type collection.

Description by Walther :

Planta acaulis.

Folis conferto-rosulatis, 1-1.5 cm longis, oblanceolatis ad spathualtis, apicibus acuminatis.

Scapis lateralibus, 15 cm altis, bifurcatis, racemis secundis, 5 – 6 -floribus, pedicellis 5 – 8 mm  longis. 

Sepalis ovatis, acutis, 3-4 mm longis, corollis 7 -8 mm longis, maculatis.

Acaulescent, crowned by a dense rosette of small leaves.

Leaves 1 – 1.5 cm long, oblanceolate to spathulate with an ovate acuminate tip, thin when dry, perhaps somewhat glaucous.

Flowering stem 1.5 dm long, purplish, slender, 2-branched near the middle, each branch a second raceme of 5 – 6 flowers, pedicels 5 – 8 mm long, sepals ovate, acute, 3 – 4 mm long, corolla 7 – 8 mm long, spotted.

Description by Reid Moran made from the same herbarium sheet (CSJ US 56: 169-176. 1984) :

Roots somewhat thickened.

Caudex short, erect, ca 5 mm thick, cespitosely branching.

Rosettes ca 2 – 2.5 cm wide, of ca 25 leaves.

Rosette leaves obovate-spatulate or somewhat rhombic, obtuse and long-apiculate, perhaps somewhat glaucous, 10 – 16 mm long, 7 mm wide above, ca 1 mm wide at base, the apicula 1 – 3 mm long, the upper margins and apicula at most inconspicuously low-papillose by slight dome-like protrusion of cell surfaces.

Floral stems ca 15 cm tall, the peduncle, slender, "purplish", 5 – 7 cm tall, the leaves not seen.

Inflorescence open, of two suberect uniparous cymes ca 8 cm long, each with 5 – 6 flowers, pedicels ascending, 4 – 8 mm long, slender (dried ca 0.5 mm thick). 

Flowers 5-merous, calyx divided to base, the segments ovate-lanceolate, 2.5 – 3.5 mm long, ca 1 mm wide, apparently appressed to corolla, corolla 7 – 8.5 mm long, "spotted", the tube 1.5 – 2 mm long, the segments 1.5 – 2 mm wide, filaments ca 5 mm long from corolla base, the free part 3 – 3.5 mm long, gynoecium 4 – 4.5 mm high, narrowed to ca 1 mm at base, the ovaries connate ca 2 mm, not evidently gibbous, narrowing abruptly to fairly definte styles, 0.5 mm or less long. 

Note :

1. A comparison of the description of G. occidentale with that of  Echeveria kimnachii suggests that they are very probably one and the same species - inspite of the fact that they have been attributed to two different genera. Why a Graptopetalum species and an Echeveria species can be considered one and the same plant is explained by the fact that neither G. occidentale is a typical Graptopetalum nor E. kimnachii a typical Echeveria. 

Whether or not they have been collected at more or less the same locality or at least the same region is impossible to know because of the lack of any precise information regarding the type locality of G. occidentale. 

2. In Cactus and Succulent Journal US 89 (1): 15 - 16, 2017, Myron Kimnach, for whom E. kimnachii was named, created the new genus Reidmorania for this plant.

3. In Las Crasuláceas de Mexico, vol. II, 2019, the author Jorge Meyrán Garcia argues for deleting the name G. occidentale in favour of E. kimnachii - because it is a “confused” name (p. 46) - confused because Walther's description (see above), being made from a herbarium specimen, is lacking decisive details. Meyrán obviously overlooked Moran's sufficiently detailed description (see above) from the same herbarium sheet which is anything but confused. Moreover Meyrán also did not take note of Kimnach's article / suggestion to create a new genus Reidmorania to accomodate this special taxon. In any case the name G. occidentale is validly published and - in case the species is included in genus Graptopetalum - has priority.